A MAN who set a house on fire in the middle of the night after taking a legal high which ‘disagreed with him’ has been jailed for two years and three months.

David Nurdin thought people were coming through the floor boards to kill him after he accidentally took Eric 3.

And in a bid to ward off the attackers he set light to his mattress at the house where he lodged and fled to his landlord’s room where he tried to shut the door.

As a result he and the house owner had to jump from a first floor window while two other occupants tried to tackle the blaze.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the 28-year-old rented a room in a house in Cambria Place where the landlord, called Billy, and another also couple lived.

Shortly before 5am on Friday, January 20 he took a drugs cocktail called a snowball which he believed was a mixture of heroin and crack cocaine. But as soon as he injected it he realised that it also contained legal high Eric 3, which he had taken before and had an adverse reaction to.

Realising it was likely to happen again he shouted out to his other housemates but they told him to be quiet as he often made a noise during the night.

The landlord then heard him shout ‘Billy, Billy, my room’s on fire’ before he burst through his bedroom door and put his foot against it to keep it closed.

As the householder dialled 999 he could hear the other two occupants going up and down stairs getting water to try and extinguish the blaze before they jumped from the window.

When he was questioned, Nurdin told the police he realised what he had taken and thought people were coming to kill him.

He thought that they were coming through the floorboards and in wardrobes so he set light to the corner of the mattress to distract them and then put it out.

But the hallucinations continued so he lit the bedding again and it quickly took hold so he fled to his landlord’s room.

Nurdin, of Cambria Place, near Faringdon Park, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

The court heard he had started a fire in the room before taking Eric 3, but that had been put down as an accident, and he had a conviction for arson from 2004.

Kevin Marland, defending, said his client felt he was lucky to be alive after what happened to him, not just from the fire but because of the drugs.

“He knows this offence saved his life. In a perverse sort of way he is thankful that he is here today,” he said. “He tells me when he is released he hopes to start a new life away from Swindon and to stay away from the associates which drag people back to drug use.”

Mr Marland said his client was seriously ill after he was arrested and he knew of at least three deaths in the town from the drug.

Jailing him, Recorder Ian Pringle QC said “Fire is regarded by the courts as a very serious offence because experience shows it is a killer and it is a killer that gets out of control very quickly.”